The Scott High School girls' softball squad seemed like a team of destiny this season.

The Lady Hawks breezed through the season, only losing five games and going 4-0 against Class AA sectional rivals Chapmanville and Logan.

Chapmanville was the defending Class AA state champions and would still be tough to beat.

Host Logan, with a heavy-hitting and senior-laden lineup, would also be extremely tough to knock off.

But would there be a changing of the guard in this year's sectional? All the signs pointed to "yes."

The No. 1-seeded Lady Hawks met their goal and came away with the Class AA sectional championship with Tuesday's 8-6 victory over Chapmanville at the Logan Softball Complex.

The victory puts Scott (25-5) into Thursday's Class AA regional softball semifinals against Wayne at Chapmanville.

For Chapmanville, the Lady Tigers saw their 2008 season come to a close at 21-10.

Chapmanville was hoping to make it back to the state tournament and have a shot at defending its state title.

Scott, though, would have no part of that as the Lady Tigers were left short of going back to Vienna.

History was also not on Chapmanville's side

Following Chapmanville's 1999, 2004 and now 2007 state title seasons, the Lady Tigers failed to make it back to the state tournament.

In 2000 after winning the '99 Class AA state crown, the Lady Tigers were upset 1-0 on their home field by Man in the regional title game.

Then in 2005, the Lady Tigers were defeated 2-0 by Herbert Hoover in the regional finals at Madison.

Chapmanville 26-year head coach Ronnie Ooten has been the head mentor of the Lady Tigers through their three state championships and the program's inception in 1983.

He made no excuses last night.

The better team won.

"They just outplayed us and they deserved to win. The better team beat us tonight. It's just as simple as that," Ooten said. "I like (Scott coach) D.A. (Harless) and they have a good bunch of kids. I just wish them the best. They hit the ball and we had one inning where we made some mistakes. We had three boo-boos which cost us five runs. I'm not dogging that because we didn't quit and we kept battling. It's going to be tough to watch them (Scott) play but I hope that they win it. I think that they are a good enough team to do it."

Scott's Coach Harless said it was thrilling to win the sectional title.

The Lady Hawks haven't won a section crown since 2002.

"It feels great. I'll tell you, these girls have worked hard all year long," Harless said. "We started out the year at Myrtle Beach and played some stiff competition and that really helped us out."

Logan opened the tourney with a 4-1 win over Chapmanville last Thursday then lost a 9-8, 10-inning thriller to Scott in Monday's opener. Chapmanville then sent the Lady Cats packing with a 14-3 win in Monday night's elimination game.

Scott then took care of business in Tuesday's finals.

Chapmanville would have had to beat the Lady Hawks twice in order to win the crown.

It wasn't to be.

Harless said his team beat two quality programs.

"It's a shame the way that it (the sectional) is set up," Harless said. "You have three of the best teams in the state right here and it is the end of the season for two of them. I take my hat off to the two teams that we played."

The Lady Tigers did not go down without a fight.

Trailing 8-4 heading into the top of the seventh and only three outs from getting dethroned, pitcher Andi Williamson and Bre Thomas started off the frame with back-to-back singles.

A groundout by Tiffini Hale to second then put runners at second and third with one out.

Williamson and pinch-runner Aly Townsend then scored on a Scott throwing error to make it an 8-6 ballgame.

Chapmanville was still in it but Scott starting pitcher Holly Turley was able to preserve the sectional title by getting Lauren Shumate to ground out to short and Lauren McCann to pop out to end the game.

That set off a wild, on-field celebration on the Logan dirt.

Turley went the distance, striking out three and walking four. She allowed six runs and nine hits.

Williamson was the pitcher of record for Chapmanville. She went six and gave up eight runs and nine hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

The Lady Tigers committed three errors to one for the Lady Hawks.

Hannah Griffith led the Scott offense as she was 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Catcher Kohle Maynard was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Scott shortstop Rachel Holstein, who made a spectacular diving catch in Monday's Logan game, added an RBI single. Abby Boyce, who had the game-winning hit against Logan in the 10th inning, had a two-run single. Krissy Smith contributed an RBI single. Brooke Bell added a bunt single and Ciera Bias and Kelsey Leadman each had sacrifice bunts.

Williamson paced Chapmanville's hitting attack with a 3-for-4 performance. Poppy Ramey was 2-for-3 with a double, while Hale went 2-for-3 with two RBI.

Shumate had a two-run double, while Thomas had a single and Beth Baldwin and Emily Meeks each had sac bunts.

The Lady Tigers went up 2-0 in the top of the first with Hale's two-run single to right center.

Scott then went ahead for good with a five-spot in the bottom of the third to go up 5-2. Griffith had an RBI double during the rally. Boyce lined out a two-run single and Smith had an RBI single.

Holstein's RBI single to left in the fourth made it 6-2 Scott.

Chapmanville then trimmed the deficit to 6-4 in the top of the fifth after Shumate's two-out, two-run double which rolled to the left centerfield fence.

Maynard then supplied the much-needed cushion for the Lady Hawks in the sixth as she ripped a two-run single to center to make it 8-4.

The Lady Tigers then got their two runs in the top of the seventh but it was not enough.

Scott now prepares to play Wayne on Thursday. A victory would then put the Lady Hawks into next Thursday's Class AA regional title game at Logan against either Boone County rival Sherman or Clay County.

"We play Wayne and now it's time to get back to practice and get focused," Harless said. "Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win the state championship. We just have to continue what we have been doing and work hard."

It's back to the drawing board for Chapmanville.

The Lady Tigers lose just one senior to graduation in starting left fielder Emily Meeks. With the rest of the team coming back and some talented players coming up from Chapmanville and Harts middle schools, the Lady Tigers could be back on top of the softball world in 2009.

Logan exits the Class AA sectional for a new Triple-A section with George Washington and South Charleston.

That leaves Chapmanville and Scott to play next spring in a best-of-three sectional series.

"It will be us and Scott next year battling if the Good Lord is willing," Ooten said. "We'll have just about everybody back and I feel real good about that. But I don't feel real good about losing. I've been in it a long time and I take losing a little bit better than I did in the past."